Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love

Based on the screenplay by MARC NORMAN and TOM STOPPARD
Adapted for the stage by LEE HALL
Music by PADDY CUNNEEN

Not Currently Playing

Marx Theatre

About

SEPT. 2 - SEPT. 30, 2017

Directed by BLAKE ROBISON

The beloved, Oscar-winning film comes to life onstage in an extravagant production that’s both wildly funny and irresistibly romantic. Young Will Shakespeare has writer's block ... the deadline for his new play is fast approaching but he's in desperate need of inspiration. That is, until he finds his muse – Viola. Against a bustling backdrop of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics, Will’s love for Viola blossoms and inspires him to write his masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet. Critically adored after its premiere in London’s West End, this exuberant romantic comedy will make you believe in love above all.

"Even if you shy away from classic material, you’ll likely enjoy this production — it’s 'Shakespeare-lite,' and a jolly good tribute to the theater." –CityBeat

ADVISORY: Shakespeare in Love is better suited for adults and teenage audiences. The cheeky humor of the show may seem innocent and refined, but it also contains sexual situations and mature themes related to blooming romance, theatrical ego and mildly tortured artistic souls.

RUNNING TIME:Shakespeare in Love runs approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes, including one intermission.

Nicholas Carrière

Will Shakespeare

Nicholas Carrière

Nicholas is thrilled to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where he appeared in Sex with Strangers and the world premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Abigail/1702. He was most recently seen in the world premiere of Joseph Pearce’s Death Comes for the War Poets in New York City. Prior to that, he was seen in the workshop production of the new musical Wallenberg. Other recent credits include the NYC/DC workshop production of My Report to the World with David Strathairn, the role of Oberon/Theseus in Joe Dowling’s acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Guthrie Theater, Noel Coward’s A Song at Twilight at Hartford Stage, the U.S. premiere of Zorro at Alliance Theatre; the role of Coriolanus in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Coriolanus and the national tour of Disney’s The Lion King. He has made several television appearances, including a recurring role on Guiding Light, and he appeared in the film Handsome Harry with Campbell Scott. Nicholas thanks his parents and eight older siblings for their continued love and support. He is a graduate of Muhlenberg College and Yale School of Drama. Visit www.nickcarriere.com. Twitter: @TheCarriere Instagram @nicholascarriere

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Emily Trask

Viola de Lesseps

Emily Trask

Emily is delighted to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! She comes to Cincinnati from The Alley Theatre where she just concluded her time as a member of the Resident Acting Company (favorite shows include The Christians; One Man, Two Guvnors; Hand to God; Around the World in 80 Days; and Miller, Mississippi). Her New York credits include The Lincoln Center Theatre (world premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy and The Chalk Garden, starring Angela Lansbury), New Dramatists, 3day Hangover/Drunk Shakespeare, E.S.T., The Public/Shakespeare Society and Titan Theatre Company. Regionally, Emily has worked with The Folger Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Yale Cabaret and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and five seasons at The Utah Shakespeare Festival. She can be heard on the Simon & Schuster/Folger Library recordings of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Julius Caesar—for which she was also a contributing scholar. Her television and film work include Marvel's Daredevil, The Perfect Murder, End of a Summer Storm (Alison Krauss/Boynton Music Video) and The Violinist (numerous indie film awards). Emily is also an acting coach, a nationally published poet and a live-in servant to her toothless cat, Ramona Salami. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama. Visit emilytrask.net.

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Barzin Akhavan

Henslowe/Ensemble

Barzin Akhavan

Barzin is pleased to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having appeared in last season’s Disgraced. Credits include the New York Theatre Workshop national tour and ArKtype international tour of Aftermath, four seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and four seasons with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. He appeared in the world premiere of The Kite Runner at San Jose Repertory Theatre and Arizona Theatre Company (SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Best Lead Actor nomination); Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company and Arena Stage; Lidless and Inana at Contemporary American Theater Festival; Pericles at Guthrie Theater and Folger Theatre; Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet at Seattle Repertory Theatre; The Poetry of Pizza at Virginia Stage Company; The Persian Quarter at Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Vestibular Sense at Mixed Blood Theatre Company; The Invisible Hand at Marin Theatre Company; a Farsi/English production of Hamlet with Waterwell in NYC; the world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns at American Conservatory Theatre and Theatre Calgary; and performances at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Shakespeare Company and Idaho Repertory Theatre. Film and television credits include Anniversary, The Jew of Malta, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Smash.

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Michael Brusasco

Lord Wessex/Ensemble

Michael Brusasco

Michael is honored to make his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. He recently appeared as Uncle Peck in Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive in a co-production with Cleveland Play House and Syracuse Stage. Prior to that, he was a guest artist at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Plays include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hand to God, Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web, Cleo, All The Way and A Christmas Carol. In New York, he has appeared off-Broadway in Misalliance, The Playboy of the Western World (The Pearl Theatre Company), Intermission (Theatre Row), Philosophy for Gangsters (Theatre Row) and Electra in a One Piece (Good Company Theatre). Other New York credits include The Crucible (Perfect Disgrace Theater), Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower (Ars Nova) and Of Monsters and Prodigies (Lincoln Center Festival). Regional credits include Deferred Action and All The Way (Dallas Theater Center), Twelfth Night (Folger Theatre), Private Lives (Pittsburgh Public Theater), See How They Run (Barrington Stage Company), Pride and Prejudice (Round House Theatre), as well as seasons at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company and the Shakespeare Theatre in DC. Visit michaelbrusasco.com. Instagram: @brusasco

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Richard Buchanan

Sam/Ensemble

Richard Buchanan

Richard is pleased to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park after spending the 2016-17 season as a member of the Bruce E. Coyle Acting Intern Company. His Playhouse credits include The Sheriff in Robin Hood; Peter and Others in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Robie Williams in #SelfieThePlay and Ensemble in Jane Eyre. He also performed as the understudy for Mr. Sosser in A Christmas Carol. Professional credits include Jake in Slipping and the German Student in Soldier’s Dreams (Iron Crow Theatre). Additional professional credits include Faust: Sweet Seduction (Ensemble Aimée Rose in Frankfurt, Germany) and new play development in the GUMBO Festival and WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory (Generous Company). He received his MFA from the Professional Actor Training Program at Purdue University and his BS in Theatre from Towson University. He thanks his wife Kelsie and the rest of his family for their steadfast support.

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Liz Daingerfield

Mistress Quickly/ Waitress/Kate/Abraham/ Ensemble

Liz Daingerfield

Liz is thrilled to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! Regional credits include As You Like It (Baltimore Center Stage), Cloud 9 (understudy, Studio Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Trojan Women (Taffety Punk Theatre Company), Twelfth Night (Love Creek Productions) and Comedy of Errors (Hip to Hip Theatre Company). Liz holds an MFA from the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting, where she played the title role in Hamlet as part of the ACA 2015 repertory season.

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Michael Fajardo

Frees/Wabash/Heavy 1/ Ensemble

Michael Fajardo

Michael is delighted to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Theatre credits include Frank in the east coast premiere of HILDA (59E59 Theaters), Soranzo from Tis' Pity She's a Whore (American Conservatory Theater) and Edmund from a fully-staged workshop production of King Lear with Kevin Kline as the title character and James Lapine directing (The Public Theater). Television and film credits include Kings (NBC), Law & Order (NBC Universal), One Life to Live (ABC), The Guiding Light (CBS) and the award-winning short film Sunday. New media credits include Manny in Spring Street – the Webseries. He received his MFA from New York University’s Graduate Acting program. Michael is coming off an extended hiatus in order to raise a family, and he dedicates this performance to them.

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Marquis D. Gibson

Adam/Heavy 2/ Ensemble

Marquis D. Gibson

Marquis is grateful to be making his debut with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. A DC-based actor, past credits include Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook (Adventure Theatre MTC), Well (1st Stage Theater), Journey to the West and Arabian Nights (Constellation Theatre Company), 295N (Signature Theatre), Black Nativity (Theater Alliance; Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical) and Intimate Apparel (Anacostia Playhouse). Other regional credits include Mother Emanuel (the New York International Fringe Festival); Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (New Freedom Theatre); and The Piano Lesson (Cape Fear Regional Theatre). He received his education at Howard University. Love and light.

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Avery Glymph

Marlowe/Priest/Ensemble

Avery Glymph

Avery is proud to make his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Most recently appearing in Macbeth at Northern Stage and The Tempest and Coriolanus/Wallenstein at The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) in Washington, DC. Broadway credits include The Tempest. Off-Broadway credits include Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Shakespeare Festival, The Drama Dept and Lincoln Center Lab. Regionally, leading roles with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Dorset Theatre, Cleveland Play House, The Old Globe (the west coast premiere of The Whipping Man), TheaterWorks Hartford, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Syracuse Stage, Crossroads Theatre Company (regional Tony season) and Cape Fear Regional Theatre. Avery's film and television appearances include Against the Current, Last Ball, He Got Game, 13 Conversations About One Thing, I’m with Lucy, Madam Secretary, Forever, Ugly Betty, Oz, all Law & Orders, The Electric Company, among more. Awards include St. Louis Critics Circle Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Production for All the Way, as well as nominations for the San Diego Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Theatre Award for The Whipping Man. Avery holds a BFA from The North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA from the STC Academy for Classical Acting at the George Washington University. For Sandra. Visit www.AveryGlymph.com.

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Laura Gordon

Nurse/Ensemble

Laura Gordon

Laura is a Milwaukee-based actor and director, and she is very pleased to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having appeared in last season’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. A longtime member of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s resident acting company, her credits there include Margie in Good People, Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman, Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Sister Aloysius in Doubt, Stevie in The Goat, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Elizabeth in Richard III, Hannah Jarvis in Arcadia and Queen Elizabeth in Mary Stuart. Directing credits include productions at American Players Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Renaissance Theaterworks, Forward Theater and Actors Theatre of Louisville. A member of SDC and Actors' Equity Association, she received her MFA in acting from the University of Iowa and is a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow.

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Wynn Harmon

Edmund Tilney/ Sir Robert de Lesseps/ Ensemble

Wynn Harmon

Wynn is delighted to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. On Broadway, he played The Detective in Porgy and Bess (also telecast "Live from Lincoln Center" on PBS). Off-Broadway appearances include The Lucky One (Mint Theater Company), As You Like It (The Pearl Theater Company) and The New Yorkers (Musical Theater Works). International credits include Voltaire/Dr. Pangloss in Candide at both Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux, and The Music Man at Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. Regional credits include Lost in the Stars and Showboat at The Kennedy Center, and shows or seasons with: Arena Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, The Alley Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC), The Studio Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, The Glimmerglass Festival, multiple Shakespeare festivals and The Constant Wife plus ten Shakespeare productions at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. On television, he played Trevor Babcock on All My Children and Mayor Robert Van Wyck on The Knick. Film credits include Paper Cranes. He received his MFA from American Conservatory Theatre and is a proud recipient of a Helen Hayes Award nomination and The Edwin E. Stein Award for Excellence in the Arts.

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Brent Harris

Richard Burbage/ Barman/Ensemble

Brent Harris

Brent is pleased to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. He has toured the country playing Scar in The Lion King and toured it again playing Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters, which he also performed off-Broadway. Other New York appearances include Tryst at the Promenade, Richard III at The Pearl Theatre Company and Long Island Sound with The Actors Company Theatre. Regionally, Brent has played leading roles at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC), Pittsburgh Public Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, DCPA Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Virginia Stage and many others. He received a Drammy Award for his performance in The Beard of Avon at Portland Center Stage and received an IRNE Award nomination for Ajax at American Repertory Theatre and a Barrymore nomination for Orson’s Shadow at the Philadelphia Theatre Company.

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Naomi Jacobson

Queen Elizabeth I/ Molly/Ensemble

Naomi Jacobson

Naomi performed in last season's A Prayer for Owen Meany and is happy to return to Cincinnati. She is an affiliated artist at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC where she's done more than a dozen productions, most recently MacBeth directed by Liesl Tommy, and has been a member of The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for 20 years collaborating in many premieres (Dead Man's Cell Phone). Other credits include The Kennedy Center (The Guardsman), Arena Stage (A View from the Bridge), Signature Theatre (Cabaret), Ford’s Theatre (State of the Union), Folger Theatre (The Winter’s Tale), Round House Theatre (The Lyons), Olney Theatre Center (Awake and Sing) and Wolf Trap Opera (The Inspector), as well as L.A. Theatre Works (All My Sons), the Guthrie Theater (The Real Inspector Hound), Goodman Theatre (Pericles), Center Stage, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Delaware Theatre Company and the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Television credits include Her Father’s Eyes (A&E) and Homicide (CBS). Naomi has received the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, three Helen Hayes Awards, 16 nominations and the DC Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant. She is a proud member of Actors Arena and Actors’ Equity Association.

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Taha Mandviwala

Peter/Proteus/Guard 2/ Ensemble

Taha Mandviwala

Taha is thrilled to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the Marx Stage with the company of Shakespeare in Love. He is a 2016 graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he earned a BA in theatre with a minor in psychology, and he was a recent member of the 2016-17 Bruce E. Coyle Acting Intern Company at the Playhouse. Recent Playhouse credits include A Christmas Carol, as well as touring productions of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Robin Hood. Taha has a love and respect for movement, shown in express practices of martial arts, parkour and stage combat. As an actor combatant status with the Society of American Fight Directors, he is also certified in unarmed, knife, rapier and dagger and quarterstaff combat. In his downtime, Taha enjoys epic sessions of Dungeons and Dragons with his close friends. His future aspirations incline to continued work in the theatre, television, film and voiceover. He would like to thank his family, friends and mentors for their unwavering support.

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John Plumpis

Fennyman/Catling/ Ensemble

John Plumpis

John is pleased to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. He last appeared in Cincinnati in 2003 as Timon in The Lion King. National tours include Barrymore starring Christopher Plummer (also the 2011 film) and Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor. In New York, he has appeared off-Broadway with TACT (company member, 28 productions as actor or director) and in countless play readings: some good, most forgettable and a few that have gone to Broadway (without him). He has played in a wide variety of comedies, dramas, musicals and Shakespeare at many fancy and not so fancy theatres from Maine to Oregon, California to Florida. Within the past year, he has played Groucho Marx, Dogberry, Scrooge and a 17th-century French bad guy. Every so often (but not often enough) he can be seen on a TV show, or heard on a voiceover. He’s been trusted(!) as a guest teacher at more than 50 universities and has served on the faculty at Montclair State University where he eliminated his students’ Jersey accents via coercion and threat when nothing else worked. Some of his thoughts on Theatre have even been published (go figure) in the Northwest Theatre Review. Instagram: @johnplumpis

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Bari Robinson

Nol/Valentine/Ensemble

Bari Robinson

Bari is making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Recent credits include kates (Cincinnati Fringe Festival); Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play, Merry Wives of Windsor and Orlando (Opera House Arts); Arabian Nights (Central Square Theater); Othello (Actor’s Shakespeare Project); Julius Caesar (Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston and Opera House Arts); A Disappearing Number (Underground Railway Theater); Lauren Gunderson’s By and By (Shotgun Players); Topdog/Underdog (Dramatic Repertory Company); and The Snow Queen (Portland Stage Company). Film credits include Mail.Man (Trailside Studios) and The Finest Hours (Disney Studios). He received his training and education at The Public Theater Shakespeare Lab (NYC), Columbia University (MFA) and Bowdoin College (BA). Visit www.robinsonbari.com.

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Jefferson A. Russell

Ralph/Ensemble

Jefferson A. Russell

Jefferson is pleased to be returning to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park after previously appearing as Shealy in last season's Jitney. Regional credits include Ragtime at Historic Ford's Theatre, Fences at Pioneer Theatre Company, several productions at Round House Theatre (Father Comes Home From The Wars, Two Trains Running, Fahrenheit 451, Amadeus and the world premiere of Ironbound), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Clybourne Park), Dallas Theatre Center/Goodman Theatre (Trinity River Plays), Rep Stage (Sunset Baby), Hangar Theatre (The Piano Lesson), Folger Shakespeare Library (The Tempest), Everyman Theatre (Gem Of The Ocean, Blues For An Alabama Sky and Hedda Gabler), Marin Theatre Company (Fetch Clay Make Man and The Convert), as well as several Kennedy Center national tours (Harlem and Color Me Dark) and productions and workshops at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company and Gulfshore Playhouse. He will appear in Aubergine at Olney Theatre and Everyman Theatre later this season. Jefferson is a graduate of Hampton University (BA, Sociology/Criminal Justice), and he received his MFA from the Academy of Classical Acting at George Washington University. He is a former Baltimore police officer and a founding member of Galvanize, a network for artists of color.

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Ty Joseph Shelton

John Webster/Ensemble

Ty Joseph Shelton

Ty loves performing more than anything. He got the acting bug at age 8, taking on his first role of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol. He has since challenged himself at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with roles in Mad River Rising and “Dill” in To Kill a Mockingbird. He recently starred alongside Bruce Willis and Hayden Christensen in the film First Kill. Ty has trained at the University of Cincinnati-CCM and The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati's STAR Program. He lives in Kentucky with his parents and three sisters. Ty would like to thank the Playhouse. "This place is my second home and it feels good to be back!"

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Nick Vannoy

Robin/Boatman/Guard 1/Ensemble

Nick Vannoy

Nick is very excited to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park! Previous Playhouse appearances include Peter and the Starcatcher as Alf and The Three Musketeers as Porthos. Most recently he was seen in Marie Antoinette at Project SEE Theatre, Dracula at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Peter and the Starcatcher at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He spent a season at Actors Theatre of Louisville as a member of the Acting Apprentice Company where he performed in Dracula, A Christmas Carol, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity and the world premiere of Oh, Gastronomy at the 2012 Humana Festival of New American Plays. He is from Lexington, Kentucky, and studied theatre at Northern Kentucky University.

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David Whalen

Ned Alleyn/Lambert/ Ensemble

David Whalen

David returns to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park after appearing in A Prayer for OwenMeany last season. He just finished playing Pastor Paul in The Christians at Kinetic Theatre Company. He is a former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Performer of the Year and a nominee and recipient of the Barrymore, Helen Hayes and Kevin Kline awards. David has performed in more than 100 productions across the country and in Europe, including works at Roundabout Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theater, South Coast Repertory, Alley Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Laguna Playhouse, Center Stage, McCarter Theatre Center, Syracuse Stage, The Arden Theatre and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, among others. Television and film credits include American Pastoral, Southpaw, The Last Witch Hunter, The Fault in Our Stars, Jack Reacher, Bystander, Insomnia, The First Seal, 61*, I’ll Call You, The Christmas Tree, Black Dahlia, My Bloody Valentine, True Blue, Indictment: The McMartin Trial, Without Warning, Three Rivers, Pensacola, Silk Stalkings, Diagnosis: Murder, All My Children and The Guiding Light. Please visit www.davidwhalenactor.com.

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Julia Proctor

Viola/Ensemble Understudy

Julia Proctor

Julia is so excited to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. Her New York credits include PTP/NYC at Atlantic Stage 2, and devising, developing and producing new work at The Peoples Improv Theater, New Dramatists, New York Theatre Workshop, Page 73, The Lark, Project Y Theatre, The Playwrights Realm, Woodshed Collective and Loom Ensemble at the Muse. Regionally, Julia has performed at Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, Round House Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Synetic Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Theatre J, Potomac Theatre Company at the Olney Theatre Center and with the Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble. She received her BA from Middlebury College and her MFA from Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting. She completed a pedagogical apprenticeship with master clown teacher Christopher Bayes and runs Clown Gym, a theatrical clown and games class in NYC. Please visit juliaproctor.com and clowngym.com. Thank you, Blake, for the continued support.

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Lee Hall

Playwright

Lee Hall

Lee Hall was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1966 and studied English Literature at Cambridge University. He has worked as a writer in theatre, TV, radio and film. He has been writer in residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Live Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Theatre: Wittgenstein on Tyne, Live Theatre 1996; Bollocks, RSC Fringe, 1998; Genie, Paines Plough, 1998; Cooking With Elvis, Live Theatre/West End 1999 – nominated for an Oliver Award for Best Comedy; Spoonface Steinberg, Ambassadors Theatre, London 2000; Two's Company, Live Theatre/Bristol Old Vic, 2001; Billy Elliot the Musical, 2004 – Olivier Award Best Musical; Pitmen Painters, Live Theatre, Newcastle/Royal National Theatre/National tour/Broadway, 2007-2010. Theatre adaptations: Leonce and Lena (Buchner), The Gate Theatre, 1997; Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti (Brecht) Almedia Theatre, 1998, A Servant to Two Masters (Goldoni) RSC/ Young Vic 1999; The Adventures of Pinocchio (Collodi), Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 2000; Mother Courage (Brecht), Shared Experience/Ambassadors Theatre; The Good Hope (Heijermans) Royal National Theatre, 2001; The Barber of Seville (Beaumarchais), Bristol Old Vic, 2003. Opera: Adaptation of Il Pagliacci/The Comedians for the English National Opera, 2008. TV: Spoonface Steinberg 1997, BBC; A Prince of Hearts 1998, BBC; Wind in the Willows 2007, BBC. Film: Billy Elliot, Working Title Films, 2000. His screenplay for War Horse directed by Steven Spielberg came out in 2011.

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Paddy Cunneen

Original Music Composer

Paddy Cunneen

As composer and musical director, Paddy has worked on some 250 theatre productions across The National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Abbey Dublin, Donmar Warehouse, Druid Theatre, Cheek By Jowl, Liverpool Everyman and many others, including London’s West End and on Broadway. His theatre music awards in the UK include the Christopher Whelen Award and two Scottish Theatre “CATS.” He has composed for BBC Radio and for several films, being BAFTA-nominated for his score for Boy A. He won a Music Industry Award for best cast album for his work on the London production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. He founded and ran The Sirens Of Titan Choir in Glasgow. He has written eight plays, variously performed on BBC Radio, in theatres across Scotland, Holland, Teatro Picolo in Milan and at the Abbey in Dublin—two of which, Fleeto and Wee Andy, won awards at the Edinburgh, Adelaide and Brighton fringe festivals.

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Blake Robison

Director

Blake Robison

Blake is artistic director of the Playhouse, where he has directed A Prayer for Owen Meany, the world premiere of Karen Zacarías’ Native Gardens, Mad River Rising, Peter and the Starcatcher, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Pride and Prejudice, 4000 Miles, The Book Club Play, The Three Musketeers and the world premiere of Abigail/1702. Over the summer, he staged Native Gardens at the renowned Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Previously, he collaborated with John Morris Russell and the Cincinnati Pops as director of their concert staging of The Music Man starring Will Chase and Betsy Wolfe. Blake has directed classics, musicals and new plays at theatres across the country including Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, National Shakespeare Company and Vermont Stage. Internationally, he directed the Tennessee Williams classic Summer and Smoke at English Theatre Berlin and has worked several times at the renowned Avignon Festival in France. As an adapter, he created successful stage versions of Alice McDermott's beloved novel Charming Billy and Jay Parini's The Last Station. Before joining the Playhouse, Blake served as producing artistic director of Round House Theatre in metro Washington, DC He lives in Mt. Lookout with his wife, Connan Morrissey, and their sons, Declan and Callum.

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Timothy R. Mackabee

Set Designer

Timothy R. Mackabee

Broadway credits include The Elephant Man and Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth. Off-Broadway credits include Heathers, Gigantic (Vineyard Theatre), Luce (Lincoln Center Theater), Much Ado About Nothing (The Public Theater), Guards at the Taj and Our New Girl (Atlantic Theater Company) and Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (Manhattan Theatre Club). Regional credits include Cleveland Play House, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Baltimore Center Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Syracuse Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, The Old Globe, South Coast Repertory and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film and television credits include Gotham, Smash, The Today Show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth and Margot at the Wedding. He received his education at North Carolina School of the Arts and Yale School of Drama. Visit timothymackabeedesign.com. Instagram: @timmackabeedesign

Michelle Habeck

Lighting Designer

Michelle Habeck

Michelle is thrilled to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where she previously designed Mothers and Sons. Select regional credits include Jazz, Marley, Amadeus, The Dance of the Holy Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man and A Skull in Connemara (Center Stage); A Raisin in the Sun and Gem of the Ocean (the Guthrie Theater); Love Song, The Chosen and Ten Percent of Molly Snyder (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); and The Little Prince, James and the Giant Peach and A Single Shard (Seattle Children’s Theatre); and The Scarecrow and His Servant (Children’s Theatre Company). Michelle’s lighting has been seen at many of the nation’s leading regional theatres, including Goodman Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Zach Theatre (Austin) and many others. Opera credits include The Masked Ball and The Elixir of Love for Austin Opera, as well as Julie Taymor’s Grendel (as associate lighting designer). Broadway credits include Thoroughly Modern Millie (as slide artist on Broadway, in London and on tour), The Boy from Oz and King Hedley II (as associate lighting designer) and Movin’ Out, Thoroughly Modern Millie and King Hedley II (as assistant lighting designer). Off-Broadway credits include Fifty Words (with MCC Theatre). She was awarded the prestigious NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers Grant. Michelle heads the lighting program at The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance.

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Matthew M. Nielson

Sound Design/ Additional Music

Matthew M. Nielson

Matthew made his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut in 2012 with The Three Musketeers and has since returned for Abigail/1702, The Book Club Play, Clybourne Park, 4000 Miles, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Peter and the Starcatcher, Buzzer, Sex with Strangers, Mad River Rising, Mothers and Sons, A Prayer for Owen Meany and Summerland. Off-Broadway credits include The Public Theater’s New York Shakespeare Festival. Regional credits include Round House Theatre (Helen Hayes Award, A Prayer for Owen Meany), Catalyst Theatre Company (Helen Hayes Award, 1984), Forum Theatre (Helen Hayes Award, The Illusion), Theatre Alliance (Helen Hayes Award, The Wonderful World of Dissocia), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, The Kennedy Center, Delaware Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Barrington Stage Company, Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Smithsonian, Ford's Theatre and Arena Stage. Film and television credits include Death in Time, Elbow Grease, Blue, Epix Drive-In, From Hell to Here, The Good Ways of Things and The Long Road. Matthew is a founding member of the audio theatre company The Audible Group and creator of the series Troublesome Gap. He is currently running Sound Lab Studios, a recording studio and production house. Samples can be heard online at www.CuriousMusic.com.

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Diane Lala

Choreographer

Diane Lala

Making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut, Diane is Professor of Musical Theatre at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she choreographs, directs and teaches dance. She has served as director/choreographer on such shows as A Chorus Line, Carousel, Legally Blonde and Singin’ in the Rain. She has also worked at Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane in New Orleans where she has directed and choreographed shows including Annie Get Your Gun, Man of LaMancha, The Drowsy Chaperone and South Pacific. She has taught master classes in Atlanta, Florida, Montana and New Orleans. Internationally, she has taught master classes in the Ukraine, Germany and Beijing. Diane is a certified Romana Kryzanowska Pilates instructor and is an associate member of SDC.

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Rick Sordelet

Fight Director

Rick Sordelet

Rick and his son, Christian Kelly-Sordelet, are the creators of Sordelet, Inc., an exciting new Stage Combat company bringing over 30 years of action movement experience to the entertainment community. Rick has worked on 72 Broadway productions, including Disney’s The Lion King and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as well as the national tours of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Les Misérables. His credits include 52 first-class productions worldwide. Opera credits include Cyrano (starring Placido Domingo) at the Metropolitan Opera, Don Carlo (directed by Nicholas Hytner) and Heart of the Soldier at San Francisco Opera, and Cold Mountain, Don Giovanni, Roméo et Juliette and La Funciulla del West at Santa Fe Opera. He has worked on films such as The Game Plan, Dan in Real Life, Brave New Jersey and The Sounding. On television, he and his son worked as Stunt Coordinators for the hit CBS comedy series Kevin Can Wait and spent 12 years as a Stunt Coordinators for Guiding Light. He is an instructor at the Yale School of Drama and a Board member for the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Rick received the Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellence at the Lucille Lortel Awards from The League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers, and a Jeff Award for Best Fight Direction for Romeo and Juliet at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He is the author of the play Buried Treasure and the co-writer of the upcoming feature film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, directed by Bryan Singer. To learn more, visit www.sordeletink.com.

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Christian Kelly-Sordelet

Fight Director

Christian Kelly-Sordelet

Christian has worked on Broadway productions including Picnic, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Waiting for Godot, No Man’s Land, Eclipsed and Sunset Boulevard and off-Broadway on shows including Masked, Slipping, Unlock’d, The Brother/Sister Plays and Kid Victory. As Stunt Coordinator, he has worked on All My Children, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, School Spirits and Kevin Can Wait. He assisted on fights for The Snow Geese, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast tour (South Africa and Argentina), Fuerza Bruta, Ben Hur Live in Rome, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors and King Lear in Central Park. Christian is a Resident Fight Director at Santa Fe Opera, and he teaches at HB Studio, The Acting Studio and the City Collage of New York in Harlem.

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Stephanie Klapper

Casting Director

Stephanie Klapper

Stephanie is thrilled to continue her collaboration with Blake Robison and the Playhouse, having cast A Prayer for Owen Meany, Disgraced, A Christmas Carol, Jane Eyre, All the Roads Home and Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery last season, and Shakespeare in Love and Mr. Joy this season. Previously for the Playhouse, she cast The Secret Garden, Sex with Strangers, Mad River Rising, Native Gardens, The Revolutionists, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mothers and Sons, Bad Dates, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Safe House, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Circle Mirror Transformation, Peter and the Starcatcher, Buzzer, Fly, Seven Spots on the Sun, Clybourne Park, 4000 Miles, Pride and Prejudice and A Delicate Ship, as well as Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, The Book Club Play, Leveling Up, Abigail/1702, A Christmas Carol, The Three Musketeers and The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead. Her work is frequently seen on Broadway, off-Broadway and regionally, as well as on film, television and the internet. She has many exciting projects running and upcoming both in New York City and regionally, as well as on film, the web and television. Stephanie is a member of the Casting Society of America and League of Professional Theatre Women.

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Jenifer Morrow

Production Stage Manager

Jenifer Morrow

A stage manager at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park since 1994, Jenifer became the PSM (head of the department) in 2005. She has worked on more than 100 productions, including a number of regional and world premieres, and has traveled to several other theatres to bring co-productions back to the Playhouse. Her recent credits include Little Shop of Horrors, The Second City’s Holidazed & Confused Revue, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing, To Kill a Mockingbird, Low Down Dirty Blues, The Secret Garden, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Buzzer, Chapatti, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club, Venus in Fur, 4000 Miles, Fly, Double Indemnity, The Book Club Play, The Three Musketeers, Thunder Knocking on the Door, Speaking in Tongues, High, The Fantasticks, Daddy Long Legs and The Fall of Heaven. Jenifer served as the PSM at Santa Fe Stages for several seasons. She has also stage managed at La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Long Wharf Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, The Ordway and Players Theatre Columbus. One of her most memorable experiences was stage managing the U.K. tour of Miss Evers’ Boys at The Barbican Centre in London and at the historic Bristol Old Vic.

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Brooke Redler

Second Stage Manager

Brooke Redler

Brooke is pleased to return for her third season with the Playhouse. Her off-Broadway credits include Breathing Time, The Faire and From White Plains (production stage manager, Fault Line Theatre). Regional theatre credits include A Christmas Carol (five seasons), Hair: Retrospection, Stillwater, The Whipping Man, August: Osage County and Cabaret (production stage manager, Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher and Richard II (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Center Stage in Baltimore); and The Drowsy Chaperone, Is He Dead? and Harry the Great (Creede Repertory Theatre). Assistant stage management credits include Our Town, A Flea in Her Ear, Clay, Jitney and Love, Janis (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); and work at Starlight Theatre, Stages St. Louis and Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Brooke also has worked in opera, with credits including Moscow, Cherry Town and Medea (PSM, Opera Long Beach) and Frida, Die Fledermaus and Tosca (ASM, Cincinnati Opera). She also spent two seasons at The Santa Fe Opera.

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Andrea L. Shell

Second Stage Manager

Andrea L. Shell

Andrea is excited to be celebrating her 18th season with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having worked on more than 85 productions. A highlight of every season for her is A Christmas Carol. Favorite Playhouse credits include Erma Bombeck, Disgraced; Bad Dates; The Revolutionists; Peter and the Starcatcher; I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti; The North Pool; Pride and Prejudice; The Trip to Bountiful; Merrily We Roll Along; As You Like It; Behind the Eye; The Understudy; Blackbird; Durango; Around the World in 80 Days; Altar Boyz; Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming; Reckless; Ace; The Clean House; A Picasso; One; Abracadabra (2002-2007); The Bible … (abridged); and Dark Paradise. Regionally, she stage managed The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (Dallas Theater Center), Ace (The Old Globe), Lost Prospect (Ingenuity Festival of Cleveland), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Nutcracker (Cincinnati Ballet) and Snow White and Beauty and the Beast (Cincinnati Ballet’s Otto M. Budig Academy). She also served as the production stage manager for the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre. Ms. Shell received her BA from East Tennessee State University. She would like to thank her family, friends, Dylan and Scott for their unending support.

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Events

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Preview Performances

Be among the first to see the show before opening night and save! Preview performance tickets are discounted and begin at just $35. Not valid with other discounts.

Sept. 2 at 8 p.m.

Sept. 3 at 2 p.m.

Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

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Opening Night

Share the excitement of Thursday opening nights with a lively post-show cast party with complimentary hors d'oeuvres by Vonderhaar's Catering.

Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

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Meet the Artists

Stay after select performances for a behind-the-scenes discussion with the cast and crew of Shakespeare in Love.

Sept. 10 at 2 p.m.

Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 24 at 2 p.m.

Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

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Shakespeare Across the Arts

Cincinnati is poised to celebrate William Shakespeare in more ways than one. This arts season is full of opportunities to enjoy the most performed playwright in history.
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is partnering with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to host a conversation that will highlight leaders from local artistic organizations about interpreting the Bard across varying disciplines. They will discuss the challenges of translating his text through their own artistic lenses.

The event is free and open to the public, but a reservation is required by calling the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888.

The Playhouse Perspectives series is supported by a generous grant from Roderick and Barbara Barr.

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Wine Pairing Dinner

Cost: $35

Join us before Friday evening performances of Shakespeare in Love for a
special four-flight wine tasting accompanied by a four-course meal.
Dinner will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. and end at 7:45 p.m. Reservations are required by the Friday before the tasting.

A Joyous Celebration of Passion and Poetry

Aug 8, 2017

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Though he never meanders far from the spotlight, William Shakespeare is, as they say, having a moment. This summer, he made national headlines thanks to a production that proved once again how his play’s timeless themes can be reimagined in very timely ways. And, in even more boisterous fashion, the Bard debuted as a punk rock 20-something in cable television’s Will, a fictionalized account of the author’s early, largely undocumented, years in London.

A Romantic Roller Coaster

Aug 31, 2017

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Playhouse Artistic Director Blake Robison took a few minutes before heading into rehearsals for Shakespeare in Love to discuss the fun of journeying back in time to Elizabethan London and of exploring the magic of first love.

How the Bard Shaped our Language

Aug 23, 2017

Natalie Hulla

Throughout the course of his writing, William Shakespeare invented more than 1,700 words by either devising new ones or re-tooling existing words to fit his script. He also coined (or popularized) more than 100 phrases that we still use today.

5 Questions with John Plumpis

Sep 13, 2017

Natalie Hulla

Actor John Plumpis makes his Playhouse debut this fall as Fennyman/Catling/Ensemble in Shakespeare in Love. Meet John and learn why he became an actor, what he loves about performing and what he's enjoying most about Shakespeare in Love.

5 Questions with Naomi Jacobson

Sep 18, 2017

Natalie Hulla

Naomi Jacobson returns to the Playhouse after performing in last season's A Prayer for Owen Meany. Learn more about how she became an actor, what roles have inspired her craft and how she's been enjoying her work on Shakespeare in Love.

5 Questions with Laura Gordon

Sep 20, 2017

Natalie Hulla

Meet Laura Gordon, who returns to the Playhouse as Nurse in Shakespeare in Love, after having appeared in last season's A Prayer for Owen Meany. Learn why Laura became an actor, what she loves about performing and what she's enjoying most about Shakespeare in Love.

5 Questions with Michael Brusasco

Sep 25, 2017

Natalie Hulla

Michael Brusasco makes his Playhouse debut as Lord Wessex in Shakespeare in Love. Meet Michael to find out more about his acting roots, his favorite roles and how he's been enjoying his work on Shakespeare in Love.